"N" Sake by Nakata Hidetoshi

"Nakata Hidetoshi, or more commonly just Hide, is Japan’s most famous soccer player. Aside from his legs, which carried him from the Japanese league to the Italian and then the English league, his chiseled good looks have also boosted his popularity, landing him in the pages of Vogue and in Calvin Klein ads. After announcing his retirement in 2006 he’s continued to dabble in soccer-related projects but has also branched out into unrelated fields like writing and charity work."

"His latest project is a collaboration with renowned Japanese design firm Nendo and Takagi Shuzo, a sake brewery with close to 300 years of brewing history. Borrowing the first letter of Nakata, Nippon and Nendo, “N” sake will be a limited edition junmai daiginjo (the pinnacle of sake brewing) made from a combination of Yamada Nishiki and Aiyama rice. And to hold his highly polished sake, Hide worked closely with Oki Sato (from Nendo) to design a unique, minimal container that would stand in contrast to the traditional Japanese beverage. The result is a black canteen-looking cylinder with subtle dimples and a protective cover to shield it from ultraviolet rays."

Saké Jun Daiti

Linea Packaging, France was challenge by Diageo in Brazil to create a Sake packaging for their local brazilian market.

"The slender, blue tinted glass bottle and highly embossed black texts printed on a cream coloured textured label, firmly place Jun Daiti in the premium Saké category. The hand drawn visual of a Japanese samurai and the original Kanji calligraphy reinforce the authenticity of the product. "

Omine

Check out Stockholm Design Lab's contemporary take on Sake Packaging. The abstracted graphic of the grain/ grains on the bottles indicates the quality of the sake. In this case, less truly is more.

"Takeshi Akiyama is a exclusive sake manufacturer based in southern Japan. For generations, his family has produced sake in three qualities; Junmai, Junmai Ginjo, Junmai Daiginjo. The quality of the sake is determined buy the percentage of the original rice grain that is used in the brewing process. The lesser the better. And that is also the core idea of our design. The label on the bottle of the best quality sake, Daiginjo, only shows one single grain. The Unique White bottle has à traditional cap and screenprinted text. In addition to the bottles, we have created the corporate identity."

Hiro Sake

Carlos Arana, former Jose Cuervo Executive, and Co-Founder/CEO of Hiro Sake, came to Monday Collective in 2010 for help with these challenges, seeking a brand design that both differentiates within a crowded category and connects with the international spirits consumer.

Rice Enoir Sake

Sciencewerk created this package design in response to a design brief from Rice Enoir Sake. The Sake made from Kodaimai Rice (リセノワール). It boasts a refreshing fruity flavor with a brilliant balance of sweet and sour. It is also rich in minerals including polyphenol; a popular mineral among young women for its health and beauty benefits. The product name Riceenoir means black rice. Illustration by Indonesian artist Roby Dwi Antono.

Coven Vodka

"Cloaked in the heavy mists of the West Coast, a timeless rite enchants those who seek a greater spirit. Initiation requires strict dedication to the craft. There is power in numbers, so gather together because when the light fades, the ritual begins." Hired Guns Creative provided the product naming, branding, and packaging design for Coven, a vodka from Arbutus Distillery, Vancouver Island's newest craft distillery.

We admire the concept behind the design and the multiple techniques used to acquire the desired effect for this project. At first glance the bottle looks clean and simply designed with hand-dipped wax, die-cut label with blind embossing, and red foil - beautiful, elegant, but the ritual only begins after dark, when you can see the glow in the dark over print.